I have my 20-year college reunion coming up, and at the behest of the then-general manager of our college radio station, I rummaged around in the basement until I found the box of cassette tapes from my radio shows. I couldn't find the one for the 1991 year-end countdown, but I did find the tapes of the last show I did before graduation, on April 28, 1992, and that's a pretty good cross-section of the music I liked those four years.
I realize the overall student body's tastes at the time trended more towards classic rock, so there may be a certain number of "I've never heard of half of these!" reactions, even more so because many of these bands haven't been heard from in years. But a few are still making albums 20 years later, and my freaky alternative music friends (you know who you are) will be all over this.
Superchunk "Seed Toss"
Kitchens of Distinction "Railwayed"
Jesus Jones "Never Enough"
The Stone Roses "She Bangs the Drums"
Chickasaw Mudd Puppies "Omaha/Superior"
Soul Asylum "Easy Street"
Teenage Fanclub "Alocholiday"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Nobody Weird Like Me"
Ned's Atomic Dustbin "Happy"
New Order "Round and Round"
Sonic Youth "Mote"
A House "Call Me Blue"
Public Enemy "Brothers Gonna Work It Out"
Massive Attack "Unfinished Sympathy"
Pop Will Eat Itself "Defcon One"
Afghan Whigs "Conjure Me"
Galaxie 500 "Fourth of July"
Dinosaur Jr. "Water"
Morrissey "Last of the Famous International Playboys"
Straitjacket Fits "Down in Splendour"
Throwing Muses "Not Too Soon"
House of Love "Safe"
Lemonheads "Half the Time"
Jesus & Mary Chain "Between Planets"
The Fall "New Big Prinz"
Chapterhouse "Pearl"
Cowboy Junkies "Sweet Jane"
I am genuinely surprised not to see Nirvana, Pearl Jam, or Jane's Addiction on this list, because if I was building a 1988-1992 playlist from scratch now, those are three of the first bands that would come to mind. I'd probably have to throw in Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like a Hole," too, but by that time I was so sick of that song there was no way I was playing it.
And because I am a total music nerd to this day, I put as many of these as I could on a Spotify playlist, so those of you who are too young to remember college radio from the early 90's can go check it out.